Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Bats aloft: variability in echolocation call structure at high altitudes

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bats alter their echolocation in response to changes in ecological and behavioral conditions, but little is known about how they adjust call structure in response to changes in altitude. We examined altitudinal variation in the echolocation of Brazilian free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis, a species known to fly to altitudes of 3,000 m above the ground. From 50.2 h of recordings, we analyzed 113 high-quality echolocation call sequences recorded from 0 to 862 m above ground level. Bats flying near the ground used shorter, higher-frequency, broader-bandwidth calls compared to bats at higher altitudes, an effect likely due to the greater levels of echo-producing clutter (i.e., vegetation, buildings) found near the ground. When ground-level recordings are excluded, bats continue to shift towards the use of longer-duration, lower-frequency, narrower-bandwidth calls with increasing altitude. We propose that the observed high-altitude changes in call structure are a response to changing acoustic attenuation rates and/or decreasing insect densities at higher altitudes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ANSI (1978) Method for the calculation of the absorption of sound by the atmosphere. ANSI S1.26-1978

  • Barclay RMR, Fenton MB, Thomas DW (1979) Social behavior of the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus. 2. Vocal communication. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 6:137–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayefsky-Anand S, Skowronski MD, Fenton MB, Korine C, Holderied MW (2008) Variations in the echolocation calls of the European free-tailed bat. J Zool 275:115–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beerwinkle KR, Lopez JD, Witz JA, Schleider PG, Eyster RS, Lingren PD (1994) Seasonal radar and meteorological observations association with nocturnal insect flight at altitudes to 900 meters. Environ Entomol 23:676–683

    Google Scholar 

  • Beerwinkle KR, Lopez JD, Schleider PG, Lingren PD (1995) Annual patterns of aerial insect densities at altitudes from 500 to 2400 meters in east-central Texas indicated by continuously-operating vertically-oriented radar. Southwest Entomol Suppl 18:63–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger-Tal O, Berger-Tal R, Korine C, Holderied MW, Fenton MB (2008) Echolocation calls produced by Kuhl's pipistrelles in different flight situations. J Zool 274:59–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Betke M, Hirsch DE, Makris NC, McCracken GF, Procopio M, Hristov NI, Tang S, Bagchi A, Reichard JD, Horn JW, Crampton S, Cleveland CJ, Kunz TH (2008) Thermal imaging reveals significantly smaller Brazilian free-tailed bat colonies than previously estimated. J Mammal 89:18–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonner WD, Paegle J (1970) Diurnal variation in boundary layer winds over the South-Central United States in summer. Mon Weather Rev 98:735–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crocker MJ (1998) Handbook of acoustics. Wiley-Interscience, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis RB, Herreid CE, Short HL (1962) Mexican free-tailed bats in Texas. Ecol Monogr 32:311–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenton MB, Griffin DR (1997) High-altitude pursuit of insects by echolocating bats. J Mammal 78:247–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillam EH (2007) Eavesdropping by bats on the feeding buzzes of conspecifics. Can J Zool 85:795–801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillam EH, McCracken GF (2007) Variability in the echolocation of Tadarida brasiliensis: effects of geography and local acoustic environment. Anim Behav 74:277–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillam E, Ulanovsky N, McCracken GF (2007) Rapid jamming avoidance in biosonar. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol 274:651–660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin DR (1958) Listening in the dark. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin DR (1971) Importance of atmospheric attenuation for echolocation of bats (Chiroptera). Anim Behav 19:55–61

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin DR, Thompson D (1982) High altitude echolocation of insects by bats. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 10:303–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habersetzer J (1981) Adaptive echolocation sounds in the bat Rhinopoma hardwickei—a field study. J Comp Physiol 144:559–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holderied MW, Jones G, von Helversen O (2006) Flight and echolocation behaviour of whiskered bats commuting along a hedgerow: range-dependent sonar signal design, Doppler tolerance and evidence for ‘acoustic focusing’. J Exp Biol 209:1816–1826

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen ME, Miller LA (1999) Echolocation signals of the bat Eptesicus serotinus recorded using a vertical microphone array: effect of flight altitude on searching signals. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 47:60–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson SJ (1995) Insect migration in North America: synoptic-scale transport in a highly seasonal environment. In: Drake VA, Gatehouse AG (eds) Insect migration: tracking resources through space and time. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones G (1994) Scaling of wingbeat and echolocation pulse emission rates in bats: why are aerial insectivorous bats so small? Funct Ecol 8:450–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones G, Holderied MW (2007) Bat echolocation calls: adaptation and convergent evolution. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol 274:905–912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalcounis MC, Hobson KA, Brigham RM, Hecker KR (1999) Bat activity in the boreal forest: importance of stand type and vertical strata. J Mammal 80:673–682

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalko EKV, Schnitzler HU (1993) Plasticity in echolocation signals of European pipistrelle bats in search flight - implications for habitat use and prey detection. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 33:415–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence BD, Simmons JA (1982) Measurements of atmospheric attenuations at ultrasonic frequencies and the significance for echolocation by bats. J Acoust Soc Am 71:585–590

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee YF, McCracken GF (2005) Dietary variation of Brazilian free-tailed bats links to migratory populations of pest insects. J Mammal 86:67–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCracken GF, Gillam EH, Westbrook JK, Lee YF, Jensen ML, Balsley BB (2008) Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis: Molossidae, Chiroptera) at high altitude: links to migratory insect populations. Integr Comp Biol 48:107–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel JM, Menzel MA, McCracken GF, Chapman BR (2000) Notes on bat activity above the forest canopy in the eastern United States. Ga J Sci 58:212–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Norberg UM, Rayner JMV (1987) Ecological morphology and flight in bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera)—wing adaptations, flight performance, foraging strategy and echolocation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol 316:337–419

    Google Scholar 

  • Obrist MK (1995) Flexible bat echolocation—the influence of individual, habitat and conspecifics on sonar signal-design. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 36:207–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rydell J (1990) Behavioral variation in echolocation pulses of the northern bat, Eptesicus nilssoni. Ethology 85:103–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaub A, Schnitzler HU (2007) Echolocation behavior of the bat Vespertilio murinus reveals the border between the habitat types “edge” and “open space”. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61:513–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schnitzler HU, Kalko EKV (1998) How echolocating bats search and find food. In: Kunz TH (ed) Bat biology and conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, pp 183–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnitzler HU, Kalko EKV (2001) Echolocation by insect-eating bats. Bioscience 51:557–569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siemers BM, Schnitzler HU (2000) Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri Kuhl, 1818) hawks for prey close to vegetation using echolocation signals of very broad bandwidth. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 47:400–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siemers BM, Kalko EKV, Schnitzler HU (2001) Echolocation behavior and signal plasticity in the Neotropical bat Myotis nigricans (Schinz, 1821) (Vespertilioinidae): a convergent case with European species of Pipistrellus? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 50:317–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmons JA, Lavender WA, Lavender BA, Childs JE, Hulebak K, Rigden MR, Sherman J, Woolman B, O'Farrell MJ (1978) Echolocation by free-tailed bats (Tadarida). J Comp Physiol A 125:291–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speakman JR, Racey PA (1991) No cost of echolocation for bats in flight. Nature 350:421–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulanovsky N, Fenton MB, Tsoar A, Korine C (2004) Dynamics of jamming avoidance in echolocating bats. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol 271:1467–1475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wahl R (1993) Important Mexican free-tailed bat colonies in Texas. In: Jordan J, Obele R (eds) 1989 National Cave Management Symposium, Austin, TX, pp 47–50

  • Westbrook JK (2008) Noctuid migration in the nocturnal aeroecological boundary layer. Integr Comp Biol 48:99–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westbrook JK, Eyster RS, Wolf WW, Lingren PD, Raulston JR (1995) Migration pathways of corn earworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) indicated by tetroon trajectories. Agric For Meteorol 73:67–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiley RH, Richards DG (1978) Physical constraints on acoustic communication in the atmosphere: implications for the evolution of animal vocalizations. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 3:69–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams TC, Ireland LC, Williams JM (1973) High altitude flights of the free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis, observed with radar. J Mammal 54:807–821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woolf WW, Westbrook JK, Sparks AN (1982) Relationship between radar entomological measurements and atmospheric structure in South Texas during March and April 1982. In: Sparks AN (ed) Long-range migration of moths of agronomic importance to the United States and Canada: specific examples of occurrence and synoptic weather patterns conducive to migration, vol ARS-43. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Toronto, pp 84–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Zbinden K (1989) Field observations on the flexibility of the acoustic behavior of the European bat Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774). Rev Suisse Zool 96:335–343

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This manuscript is dedicated to Professor Donald R. Griffin, a pioneer who encouraged our work on bats aloft. We thank Y.-M. Kuo, R. Eyster, and P. Schleider for the field assistance and R. King, K. White, and the W. Gilleland family for numerous favors and logistic assistance. We also thank Dr. M. Brock Fenton and two anonymous reviewers for the comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Erin H. Gillam

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Dept. 2715, 218 Stevens Hall, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND, 58108-6050, USA

  2. Ya-Fu Lee

    Present address: Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Biodiversity, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 569 Dabney Hall, Knoxville, TN, 37996-1610, USA

    Erin H. Gillam, Gary F. McCracken & Ya-Fu Lee

  2. USDA-ARS, 2771 F&B Road, College Station, TX, 77845-4966, USA

    John K. Westbrook

  3. CIRES, 216 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Michael L. Jensen & Ben B. Balsley

Authors
  1. Erin H. Gillam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gary F. McCracken
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John K. Westbrook
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ya-Fu Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael L. Jensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ben B. Balsley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin H. Gillam.

Additional information

Communicated by G. Jones

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gillam, E.H., McCracken, G.F., Westbrook, J.K. et al. Bats aloft: variability in echolocation call structure at high altitudes. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 69–79 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0819-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0819-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation